Snow Hill teen hosts summer camp, directs play

SNOW HILL | This weekend will be the culmination of more than a year of work for one Snow Hill teenager.

Last summer, Parker Harris, 15, a rising sophomore at Greene Central High School, began working to create a Youth Community Theater group for elementary and middle school youth.

“We don’t have a community theater group here in Greene County,” Harris said. “People have to go to Farmville, Kinston or Greenville and I had expressed an interest in starting one here, so I did it. I started one.”

For the last two weeks, 25 members of Harris’ community theater group have been building props, designing sets and rehearsing for a play they plan to perform this weekend at Greene Central High School.

Titled “Shrek the Musical Jr.”, the play is a 90-minute adaptation of the popular Broadway musical based on the first two Shrek films.

Harris said the youth theater has been working on producing the play over the last several months — hosting auditions and monthly rehearsals — but only in the last two weeks have they been able to really get hands on with the production.

Last week, the group met at a local Methodist church to build the props they need for the show, and this week the group is practicing the play on the stage at GCHS.

“We have a lot of good talent here in Greene County,” Harris said. “The kids are amazing; the cast, they work so well together. It’s just nice to see them all on stage and sounding good. It’s very rewarding.”

Leslie Keely, choral director and adult volunteer working with the group, said she was happy to see someone providing something different for local children to do with their summer.

“It’s been great. I’ve done this kind of thing when I was a kid, so when he told me about it I was like yes, that would be so fun for the kids to get involved in,” she said. “Sports kind of dominate everything — and I don’t have anything against sports — but it’s nice to have something different.

The Greene County Youth Community Theater will perform “Shrek the Musical Jr.” at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $8 for ages 4 and up, free for ages 3 and other. Doors open both days at 6:15 p.m.

For more information, visit facebook.com/parker.harris.796.

Dustin George can be reached at 252-559-1077 or Dustin.George@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter AT @DustinGeorgeKFP.

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